Eric Bolling started at FOX covering business news but quickly climbed the ladder of success, first as a guest host on the O’Reilly Factor and then to the center chair on The Five. This year, he was given his own show called the FOX News Specialists. Now it’s all over.

Fox News Will Part Ways With Eric Bolling After Sexual Harassment Investigation

Fox News Channel will part ways with host Eric Bolling, a host and contributor whose on-air presence at the 21st Century Fox-owned network had been growing in recent months, after allegations surfaced that he had harassed colleagues there, the network confirmed Friday.

“Fox News Channel is canceling ‘The Specialists,’ and Eric Bolling and Fox have agreed to part ways amicably,” the network said in a statement.” We thank Eric for his ten years of service to our loyal viewers and wish him the best of luck.” A Huffington Post report had disclosed allegations that Bolling had sent lewd messages to colleagues via smartphone.

Bolling, a former commodities trader and best-selling author, had been a longtime co-host of “The Five,” and more recently helped launch a new late-afternoon show, “The Fox News Specialists.” He also anchors the Fox News program “Cashin’ In.” Fox News intends to keep Bolling’s co-hosts, Eboni Williams and Kat Timpf, as contributors. The show will be replaced at 5 p.m. eastern with an hour of news coverage for the foreseeable future, with rotating anchors holding down the slot.

Allahpundit of Hot Air makes a good point about Bolling’s co-hosts on The Specialists:

On a day when Fox is trying to send the message that it respects its women employees, it’s weird that they’d rather cancel “The Specialists” than let two women co-host it. The idea, I guess, is that Bolling was the marquee name, the populist conservative who spoke for Fox viewers when jousting with Timpf and Williams, but they could have given the latter two a crack at making it work.

Imagine how it must feel to be them today, having gotten a big break and landed a 5 p.m. hosting gig on the most watched cable news network in America only to lose it because of Bolling’s alleged misbehavior. The show was slightly more than three months old when the scandal broke. Geez.

This is particularly bad news for Trump supporters. Bolling was one of the few pro-Trump voices in a media environment which is a sea of anti-Trump reportage.

On a somewhat related note, Charles Payne is returning to the FOX Business Network after being cleared in a separate harassment investigation. Patrick Hipes reports at Deadline Hollywood:

Charles Payne Returning To Fox Business Tonight

Charles Payne is returning to Fox Business Network’s show Making Money tonight, just more than two months after he was suspended amid a sexual harassment investigation. The network confirmed a report in the Los Angeles Times today that the investigation has been completed and he had been cleared to return.

Payne, a former Wall Street analyst who has been with FBN since it launched in 2007, had defended himself against the allegations in a tweet storm after he was pulled off the air July 6. That came after the married host admitted to the National Enquirer the day before that he had an affair with an also-married female political analyst who was a frequent guest at the network.

SDN didn’t say this one is a proven hoax. SDN pointed out that given the other proven hoaxes like this we’ve seen, it’s reasonable to suppose that this is likely to be a hoax too, and to treat it as one unless proven otherwise.

This is not as big of a deal as portrayed. Laura Ingraham is getting a show in primetime soon; probably the spot now occupied by The Five which will be moving back to the 5PM slot. Lose Bolling, gain Ingraham; Trump will still get fair coverage on FNC. The Specialists was just the odd show out in this scenario.

I was a fan of Bolling, but I have to admit that I was puzzled by the weak language of his denials, that he “recalled” no such inappropriate communications and “did not believe” that he sent them. If I were accused of sending penis pics, I’d be pretty sure that I hadn’t. In any event, I would like Fox’s investigation to be made public.

The show seemed forced. As though everything was scripted beforehand. I don’t know why Bolling wasn’t more careful. What he thought was funny is now a firing offense. Under the left wing Murdoch boys you have to be very careful.

The idea that FNC’s ratings are down keeps coming up. But even with MSNBC getting a 2 hour anti-Trump ratings bonanza at night, Fox still leads all cable news overall. And they are still often the most viewed cable channel overall. It’s not like they are on their way out. But new management does appear to be struggling to find an identity. They also haven’t replicated the O’Reilly popularity. Overall they are still strong in the business sense.

Here’s the thing…. if a co-worker does something you consider grossly inappropriate, you deal with it THE MINUTE IT HAPPENS. You don’t wait a few years and then bring it up. If you kept your mouth shut, I’ll be forced to conclude you didn’t have a problem with it, thus it really wasn’t harassment. I’m weary of women who pop up out of the woodwork with years old claims of sexual harassment.